1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to network communications that utilize the resolution of domain names to network addresses.
2. Background Art
Networks, such as the Internet, support various forms of communication. For instance, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) is a general term for a family of transmission technologies for delivery of voice communications over IP networks such as the Internet or other packet-switched networks. For example, using VoIP, users are enabled to make telephone calls over the Internet using communication devices such as IP phones. When using a VoIP application, a user may expect to hear a dial tone as soon as the user picks up the phone, and may expect to be able to make a call without any problems at any time. However, delays in receiving a dial tone, and other issues, do occur with regard to VoIP telephone calls. Such delays may have various causes.
For instance, the domain name system (DNS) is a hierarchical naming system for computers, services, and further resources participating in communications on the Internet. Each communication device that is configured to communicate over the Internet may be identified by a corresponding DNS domain name, which has an associated IP address. A first communication device may desire to perform a VoIP (or other) communication with a second communication device. The first communication device may identify the second communication device by its domain name. The first communication device may transmit a DNS query that includes the domain name to a DNS server to obtain the IP address for the second communication device, to enable communications with the second communication device. However, a failure of the DNS query may cause a significant amount of network bandwidth to be consumed, because the first communication device may repeatedly transmit the DNS query in further attempts to obtain the IP address for the second communication device. If a large number of communication devices are simultaneously attempting DNS queries that are failing, large amounts of network bandwidth may be consumed, and a voice service outage may even occur.
As such, techniques for avoiding network issues with regard to failed DNS queries are desired.